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MURAENIDAE
Naval shock troops of the Occult-Futurists take pride in the fact that
while their fellow soldiers must mostly rely on boats or balloons to
make beachhead, their supernaturally bouyant boots and well insulated
drysuit-armour lets them march directly from their warships to the field
of battle. “March” only in the sense of forward momentum — their actual
motions are more akin to skaters, water churning around the boots and
propelling them in an oily, often bloody, froth.
The boots and suits keep them stiff and upright when they die, standing
along the sea and shore like buoys mounted with scarecrows. Muraenidae
that survive multiple battles learn to use this as an advantage, turning
their fallen into floating cover, or mimicking the slouched head of the
dead to achieve an ambush. Many foes can’t spare the arrows or bullets
to check every body.
level 2 evil humans
Armour 13, Hit Die 1d8, Morale 0
Numbers 1d6 (2d6), Speed 7, Surprise 0
Cha 8, Dex 14, Fer 14, Hth 12, Int 12, Wil 12
1 weapon attack per round (short sword on a cord attached to suit to
allow retrieval if dropped). Carries a single pre-loaded pistol,
impossible to reload in water combat conditions.
Half damage from cold and frost (property of drysuit-armour)
Muraenidae may move freely on the surface of water, and if forgoing
other motion may climb upwards on a jet of water that reaches 10 feet
high — if they move horizontally they return (loudly and with a splash)
to water-level. They may not submerge themselves above the knees, and if
forcibly submerged will bob directly back up.
Old
Muraenidae Helmet:
An object from before the Occult-Futurists of Riccamino swore off the
ocean floor as the only non-permissable site of conquest. This blue
sleek helmet contains the formula for Water Breathing (nameless grimoire
page 268), usable only on the wearer, and Indivisible (tnu page 216). It
also has a mechanism that displays whether the wearer can safely breathe
whatever is around them.
A variation from the baseline Occult-Futurist
Helmet which contemporary muraenidae now wear. A few veterans keep
their helmets but using them in the field is punishable by death.
(this statblock and the page references in the helmet are for The
Nightmares Underneath)